Slider for slide-fastener closures



March 3, 1970 A. FROHLICH 7,

SLIDER FOR SLIDE-FASTENER CLOSURES I Filed July 7, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. /vs Pea/a lcw A TTOEIVEY March 3," 1970 I A. FROHLICH 3,497,926

I SLIDER Eon s'LinE-ms'rsnm CLOSURES Filed July 7. 19s? I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. ALI-0N5 Feiinuc A'I'IWRIVEK United States Patent O" 3,497,926 SLIDER FOR SLIDE-FASTENER CLOSURES Alfons Frfihlich, Essen, Germany, assignor to Opti- Holding A.G., Glarus, Switzerland, a corporation of Switzerland Filed July 7, 1967, Ser. No. 651,757 Claims priority, appligtiflnllermany, July 8, 1966,

Int. Cl. A44b 19/00 US. Cl. 24-20515 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE My present invention relates to a slider for a slidefastener assembly and, more particularly, to improvements in slider construction which permit the assembly to be subjected to ironing by hand or mangle without detriment to the slider.

It is common practice to provide sliders for opening and closing slide-fastener assemblies upon the movement of the slider to and fro along the coupling element, thereby interfitting them or drawing them apart. In general, such sliders are somewhat elongeted in their direction of movement and have relatively wide mouth portions into which the separable coupling elements are fed, as well as a somewhat more narrow slider-tail portion from which the interfitted coupling elements emerge. The upper and lower plates of the' slider, because of their configuration, are frequently referred to as upper and lower shields and this designation will be used hereinafter. The upper and lower members or shields are integral with one another or interconnected by a wedge-like web bridging the shields and defining the channels within the slider. In some constructions, the slider is assembled by joining the individual shields together with a separate web member or bridging piece or by mounting one of the shields upon the bridging piece which is unitarily formed with or previously afiixed to the other shield. One or both of the sheet metal shield members is generally provided with relatively thin inwardly turned formations or edges designed to cooperate with the web member in forming the aforementioned guide channels.

Such sliders have not, for the most part, been capable of withstanding fabric-handling treatments involving rigorous agitation of fabrics carrying the slider or compression of the fabric between rollers or the like. Such slide-festener assemblies are not considered to be readily ironable whether by hand iron, platen-type ironing apparatus or roller mangles. With prior-art slide-fastener assemblies, such fabric-handling treatment frequently caused tearing in the region of the slider or damaged the slider by distorting the slider and partially closing the guide channels, thereby preventing the slider from being 3,497,926 Patented Mar. 3, 1970 drawn along the coupling elements of the stringer tape. This disadvantage is especially marked when the slidefastener assembly is used in washable fabrics and garments. While many suggestions have been made to limit the number of projecting corners and edges of the slider and the coupling elements have been rendered ironable or washable by substituting continuous coils of synthetic resin for the spaced-apart metallic coupling members, there has not as yet been any successful suggestion as to how to preclude closing of the channels and jamming of the slide fastener. It will be recognized that the relatively elongated configuration of prior-art sliders in which the web connecting the upper and lower shield members was located at one end of the slider, has made it particularly easy to press the cantilevered tail portions together and distort the slider.

-It is, therefore, the principal object of the present invention to provide a slider for a slide-fastener assembly which is of economical construction and is adapted to obviate the aforementioned disadvantages.

A further object of my invention is to provide a slider for the purposes described which is capable of withstanding rigorous fabric-handling treatment and has a minimum number of sharp corners or edges capable of tearing or otherwise damaging the fabric to which the stringer tape is secured.

Yet another object of my present invention is to provide a slider for coupling elements and slide fasteners of the character described which is capable of withstanding ironing pressures even in high-pressure mangle-type apparatus without distortion.

These objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter are attained, in accordance with the present invention, which provides in a slider for opening and closing (i.e disconnecting and interconnecting) interleavable coupling elements of a slide-fastener stringer, a pair of generally disk-shaped upper and lower shield members interconnected and unitarily formed with a wedge-shaped web bridging these members, the members having circular configuration and registering substantially coextensively; the upper and lower shield members of the improved slider are convex away from one another, i.e. outwardly convex and of lens-like configuration, with the greatest slider thickness in line with the web or bridging member. Advantageously, the slider is molded from a synthetic resin and the upper and lower shield members have bulging outer surfaces free from discontinuities and conforming to surfaces of revolution or axially symmetrical with respective centrums aligned with one another and disposed along an axis of the slider corresponding to the maximum thickness thereof and passing through the web. In this manner, compressive forces tending to urge the shield members together are applied in line with the web which is of solid construction and is capable of withstanding the compressive distortion force even when the slide fastener is fed through a mangle or the like. The smooth convexity of the upper and lower shields also facilitates the insertion of the slider between the rolls of the mangle and its passage therethrough. Advantageously, the rims of the circular and coextensive shield members have formations of rounded edge configuration defining with the wedge-shaped member the respective channels, a pair of ridges being disposed centrally along the inner surfaces of the upper and lower shield members and tapering away from the wedge member while merging therewith to form central guides between the channels.

The formations advantageously include two projections from one of the shield members which are angularly offset about the center of the disks and define with the flanks of the wedge member generally divergent channels with parallel walls serving to guide the coupling elements at the approximate fastener-opening angle. According to a feature of this invention, the wedge member, in crosssection in a plane parallel to the shield members, forms an equilateral triangle whose altitude generally approximates the radius of the shield member and advantageously ranges between %R and IR where R is the radius mentioned earlier. Furthermore, the lateral guide elements, two of which may be disposed with angular equispacing from the web member have thicknesses in the radial direction which are substantial, i.e. may range from 0.1R to 0.5R, thereby permitting these formations to act as abutments which withstand excessive compression of the shield members transversely to one another. In this case, the formations act not only as guide elements but also walls which close the sides of the circular slider and abutments preventing excessive compressium of the shield members toward one another. The distance between these formations and the opposite shield member with which they are engageable upon compression advantageously is less than the degree of compaction of the slider permissible prior to detrimental permanent deformation of the coupling elements received within the slider. The slider of the present invention is highly advantageous in that it permits the upper and lower shield members to be gripped between the thumb and forefinger of the user and to be opened or closed without any auxiliary means. It is, however, possible to provide handle flaps, locking members and the like on the upper or lower shield members in respective recesses of the convex surfaces. In this case, the handles or locking members should have configurations conforming to the convex outlines noted above.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following description, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a slider in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the slider;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IIIIII of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IVIV of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VV of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view of the upper shield member of a modified slider, according to this invention; and

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VII-VII of FIG. 6.

In FIGS. 15, I show a slider which, in its basic construction, comprises an upper shield member 1 and a lower shield member 2 of outwardly convex configuration and coextensive circular outline in planes parallel thereto; the upper and lower members are integral and unitarily molded with a web member 3 which forms a couplingelement separator of triangular cross-section. Upon the upper member 1, I provide a pair of symmetrically disposed lateral guide elements 4, unilaterally molded with the slider, with angular equispacing about the center C of the circular members 1 and 2 from the wedging member 3. It will be understood that the guide elements 4 can also be provided solely on the lower member 2 or partly on the upper and partly the lower member.

According to one aspect of this invention, the upper and lower members 1 are outwardly convex in a smooth manner so as to have domes 1' and 2' with their highest points at 1" and 2" in line with one another and aligned with the web member 3 along the centrum axis A as represented in FIG. 5. The upper and lower shield members are outwardly curved away from the points 1" and 2" of maximum thickness in lens-like configuration to facilitate smooth passage of the slider through the gap between the rollers of a mangle. The greatest thickness d of the slider, which may range from 1R to 2R in a particularly advantageous embodiment, is located in line with the web 3 so that the maximum compression force is fully taken up by this web. The upper and lower shield members are, moreover, formed without any sharp corners or edges beyond the circular boundaries thereof which have the common radius R.

According to a further feature of this invention, the formations 4 have a radial thickness t which is relatively enlarged to permit these formations, whose flanks 4' form the desired opening angle with the faces 3 of the bridge piece 3, to.act as stops upon radial compression of the upper and lower members in the direction of arrow A. Thus, the distance S (FIGS. 1 and 5) between the formations 4 and the lower member 2 is less than the compressive extent of the coupling element passing through the channels 10 at which permanent deformation of these coupling elements occurs. The radial thickness t ranges between 0.1R and 0.5R while the altitude h of the equilateral web 3 ranges between 0.5R and IR.

As can be seen from FIGS. 6 and 7, the upper or lower shield member 21 may be formed with a recess 22 in the domed surface 23 in which a handle 24 (with or without the usual locking pin) is accommodated. The handle 24 is illustrated in its extended position in dotdash lines and has contours complementary to that of the convex domed surface 23 with a centrum or region of maximum thickness at 25 in line with the web 26.

The invention described and illustrated is believed to admit of many modifications within the ability of persons skilled in the art, all such modifications being considered within the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A nonsnagging compression-resistant slider for a slide fastener adapted to be used on fabric articles to be ironed and having interconnectable coupling elements on a stringer adapted to be decoupled upon movement of the slider in one direction and interconnectable upon movement of the slider in the opposite direction along the stringer, said slider being unitarily molded from a synthetic resin and comprising upper and lower outwardly convex shield members of circular outline and coextensive with one another receiving said coupling elements between them, said shield members bulging arcuately outwardly away from one another and defining at regions of greatest elevation at an axis of the slides perpendicular to said shield members, a wedge-shaped bridge member interconnecting said upper and lower members with the axis lying within said bridge member, and a pair of formations on only one of said shield members angularly spaced from said bridge member about a common central axis of the circular upper and lower members while extending along arcs thereof cotcrminous with the outline of the shield members and defining with said bridge member a pair of guide channels for said coupling elements merging in said one direction, said formations having a configuration of generally chordal circle segments and being of a relatively large radial thickness while confronting nonprojecting flat portions of the other shield member whereby said formations constitute abutments limiting the deflection of said upper and lower members toward one another.

, /i.R and. IR where R is the radius of the circular out- 5 6 line of said upper and lower members, said formations 2,261,132 11/1941 Poux. having radial thicknesses ranging between 0.1R and 0.5R. 3,170,208 2/ 1965 Morin 24-20514 References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 858,850 12/1940 France.

1,094,683 12/1960 Germany. 2,166,905 7/1939 POHX 24 205-14 495,390 11/1938 Great Britain.

D. 114,269 4/1939 Poux.

2,189,727 2/1940 Corner 24--205.14 BERNARD A. GELAK, Primary Examiner 

